Ma Stump Puller

Taue is incredibly underrated, and it bugs me to death. Sure, he doesn't have as many high points as the other Pillars: he has no definitive singles title run outside of a kinda middling Triple Crown reign that's more known for how it ends than how it actually was as a whole: but what he does have is incredible ring presence and psychology. Everything Taue does in the ring makes sense to his character: he's a big dude who throws around the smaller guys without abandon, he's a bully who makes sure to get in the way of anyone else mounting offence, even if he's not the legal man. When you look at the many six-man tags and general work, Taue stands out as a supreme ringleader, keeping everything in line, even with those who usually aren't particularly fantastic. He can be a masterful babyface, either a young hotshot aiming against the big bruisers, or a war-weary vet battling against a new generation of scrappy guys. He's so good at making narratives in his matches and sticking to them regardless of the outcome. Here are some Taue matches you might've not considered before showcasing this: Akira Taue vs. Takeshi Rikio (NOAH 2005) Rikio's title run isn't getting over, despite Misawa and Kobashi giving the poor lad wins in big main event slogs. Most people know about this already: Rikio was a failure in terms of main event stuff, namely because of a true lack of charisma. Taue comes in at the last second to be his rival, and he takes advantage of this, teasing the crowd that he (might) just lose this despite his best efforts. Despite Taue by this point being banged up, he delivers a hellacious performance and hits all of his usual big notes while selling his vulnerability. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 2000) Taue goes into this incredibly injured (namely his shoulder and some smaller issues) and has to play the plucky underdog against two guys who don't give him a inch to work with. This is essentially giving a extended look into Taue selling his injuries, struggling to fight back as Omori rips away at his bad shoulder with malice and whatnot. Takayama steals his bully routine, consistently gets in shit when he's just about to get a comeback or tag out. He paces himself greatly here so that when he gets that hot tag and starts throwing out everything he possibly can do, the crowd completely eat it up like he's just won the lottery. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace (AJPW 1998) Gunn and Ace are vultures here, picking away at Kawada. They can't collectively beat him, but with Ace on the outside wearing him down, Gunn in the ring keeping their momentum up, Kawada is soon barely able to run to the ropes, let alone fight. Why mention this? Because Taue does some great work on the apron, consistently saving Kawada's ass from near falls, getting amped up when he's able to recover, and even putting himself in danger (namely having to quickly risk damage by crawling to save Kawada after a big double suplex) when he does get in, it's great: big offence, huge cheers, only stopped when he gets a bit too ahead of himself and gets a Ace DDT off a chokeslam. Again, Taue barely shows up here and he's still able to deliver some great work, despite not even being in the ring for the most part. Akira Taue vs. Maunakea Mossman (AJPW 1998) Mossman/Kea gets some pretty harsh criticism at points, unfairly at times. One thing that I can agree on is that he wasn't very interesting outside of workrate: he didn't really have anything for crafting stories in the ring and his charisma was....ehh. Not exactly anything to talk about. This match is short, but Taue gives the guy something to work with here, namely the fact that Mossman at this point is moving to a Heavyweight, and this is essentially his Trial Series, to get him over as one in the eyes of the crowd. Most guys wrestle normal bouts here, giving and taking offence, taking it easy. Taue tries this for a bit, takes some big offence until he basically gets fed up and starts beating the crap outta him: DDT's on the mat, boots to the face, big brain chops, you name it. Taue has no respect for this little Jr who thinks he's a giant killer and he really wants him to know it as well, even daring Mossman to throw out his usual kicks to no effect. This gets Mossman over as well: the small pockets of room where he throws out as much as humanly possible are met with strong reactions. The result is obvious, but Taue almost convinces those watching that he might just....lose here, and that's not easy to do by any means. I could go on all day, but needless to say, Taue kicks big ass. The top 20 more than does him fine on my list.

I'm gonna try to make the case for Albright being at least on the top 100. First off, I'll agree with some of the sentiments here: he's a bit of a lame duck, and when paired with someone who can't take his huge ass suplexes (I.E. a Hansen) he struggles immensely. He's far from a natural in the ring and he quickly gets booked away from the main event after a fairly underwhelming Misawa TC defence. However, when you are going through weekly AJPW tapings, looking at the same guys over and over, Albright is one of the few guys that stays consistently entertaining, at least for myself. He's a great monster heel when he's manhandling the smaller lads, terrorising the Super Generation Army or whatnot, completely wrecking them with big suplexes and slams. Sure, he's NOT charismatic and you definitely can't build a match around him, but he plays a critical role in the Triangle of Power as Williams's vicious partner in crime and supporting act in his later years, getting some really good matches out of someone who was, quite frankly, starting to break down a fair bit physically and wasn't the man he was in prior years. He's a great upper card tag worker and has made some truly bizarre team-ups (him and Sabu) work well. Here are most of his highlight matches in AJPW, in bold being the ones where he particularly shines (please note that I haven't checked out Albright's debut year yet so there's probably a few missing) Gary Albright, Maunakea Mossman & Scorpio vs. George Hines, Johnny Ace & Mike Barton (1999) Gary Albright & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (1999) Akira Taue & Jun Izumida vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (1998) Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda (1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Steve Williams (1998) Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (1997) Akira Taue, Tamon Honda & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright, Steve Williams & The Lacrosse (1997) Kenta Kobashi Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs Steve Williams, Gary Albright/The Lacrosse (1997) Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (1997) Gary Albright vs. Toshiaki Kawada (basically all of their matches together: 1995, 1996, and then one in 1997, albeit that one is weaker than the others) Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1997) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 1997) Gary Albright & Sabu vs. Kenta Kobashi & Patriot (1996) Gary Albright & Sabu vs. Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (1996) Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1996) Gary Albright, Johnny Ace & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (1996) Gary Albright vs. Jun Akiyama (1996) Gary Albright vs. Masanobu Fuchi (1996) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Stan Hansen (they have two matches together in 1996, both worth a watch) This isn't including just generally alright or decent matches (of which there's a fair chunk) as well as his shooty work in UWF, of which some have claimed is of better quality overall before he had his fissy fit against Tamura and essentially ruined whatever chances they had at continuing. All in all, the idea that he was a slow tank that had to be led to good quality matches is incredibly untrue, the man could work quite well for himself, hopefully this list helps in dispelling that.

Don Arakawa Controversial, but Arakawa deserves, at the very least, a crack at nominations. He's one of the most consistent comedy wrestlers ever, and that's coming from someone who groans at that style in general. Under the comedy work is a pretty technical hand who can almost universally take any act and get them to a decent match: a lot of his (documented) SWS work is getting random NJPW guys who are barely out of the Dojo to presentable (or at times even fairly good) matches. He's the perfect opening guy and remained as such for way, way longer than you would expect. That being said, he's had some particularly fun showings when allowed to get his hair down a little, and his weird out of his depth persona when entering shoot style stuff is very entertaining. Don Arakawa vs. The Cobra (NJPW, 1985) Don Arakawa vs Daisuke Ikeda (PWFG, 1993) Carl Greco & Don Arakawa vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa (Bridge of Dreams, 1995) Don Arakawa & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Fugo Fugo Yumeji & Kuroge Wagyuta (ZERO-ONE, 2002) Don Arakawa vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (ZERO-ONE, 2003) Don Arakawa vs. Munenori Sawa (Big Mouth Loud, 2006) Don Arakawa vs Osamu Kido (Big Mouth Loud, 2006)

I've gotten a huge appreciation for the man as I've slowly clawed through his content. If one thing is true, it's that he tries to make every match he's in better. Random AJPW 6-Man tags where most of the guys involved can barely bump or do moves? Sure, he can settle with that. Taking a 70+ Dory Funk to some of his best exchanges in decades in singles or tag matches? Yep, that as well. Taking guys like a super green Ryota Hama or Bas to some of their highlights workrate wise at the time? Not a issue. Going a full 30 minutes with Kentaro Shiga of all people, and getting probably one of his best matches ever out of the guy? Somehow done with ease. He's one of those guys that can be fitted in anywhere as a consistently reliable force, and while his formula gets pretty stale (especially when with someone who can't really work his pace without making it look forced) there's no doubting that he's a top act and should've at least been given a "thank you" run somewhere major. Top 30, no question about it. It's only the lack of a true top run that stops him being further down.